SEVENTEEN TEARS UNDER GROUND. ^.W 



eggs until the emerging of the winged form. The 

 abdominal part of the female Cicada, as you see, is 

 conical, and on the under side is a longitudinal channel 

 for the reception of the piercer. This organ is further 

 protected by four short grooved pieces fixed in the sides 

 of the channel. The piercer itself consists of three 

 parts in close contact with each other — namely, two 

 outer ones, grooved on the inside and enlarged at the 

 tips, which externally are beset with small teeth like a 

 saw ; and a central spear-pointed borer which plays be- 

 tween the other two. Thus this instrument has the 

 power and does the work both of an awl and a double- 

 edged saw, or rather of two key-hole saws cutting 

 opposite to each other. 



" When the time has come for the female to lay her 

 eggs she selects a position near the tip of a twig. The 

 seventeen year Cicada has a great preference for the 

 oak, next to that probably the hickory, but oviposits in 

 almost every kind of deciduous tree, and even in herba- 

 ceous plants, and occasionally evergreens. I have 

 known pruinosa to oviposit in a stem of golden-rod. 



" Her method is this : She places her head upward, 

 that is, toward the terminal part of the twig, and with 

 her piercer saws a longitudinal furrow in the wood. 

 Then, with her ovipositor, she forces the eggs a little 

 distance down below the external opening. The eggs 

 are of a pearl white color, one-twelfth of an inch long, 

 and taper to an obtuse point at each end. When in 

 the act of cutting she clasps the branch on both sides 

 with her legs, and then, bending down the piercer at 



